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THE MASQUE OF THE 
TITANS OF FREEDOM 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON 



^THE MASQUE OF THE 
TITANS OF FREEDOM 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON J 



SMusic Composed by 
JOHN LAWRENCE ERB 



Urbana - Champaign 

Illinois 

1918 



^ 






Coiiyri:!:ht, 1918 

By William Ciiaun'cy Langdon 

All Rights Reserved 



y 



All actins rights and motion picture rights are reserved by the author. Permission for 

performance must be secured in writing from him. Address: 

William Chauncy Langdon 

University of Illinois 

V, Urbana, Illinois 



/ 

.JIJN -7 1918 

^CI.D 49774 



THE PERSONS OF THE 
MASQUE 

REALISTIC FIGURES 

George Washington 

Abraham Lincoln 

The Custis Children 

Tad 

Mrs. Bixby and Her Sons 

Washington's Opponents 

Lincoln's Opponents 

Revolutionary Picket 

Civil War Picket 

Soldiers of the Great War 

SYMBOLIC FIGURES 

America 

Belgium 

France 

Britain 

Italy 

The Majestic Ones of Life 

The Human Spirits of Earth 

Pastoral Elves 

Sprites of Humor 



THE WASHINGTON THEME 
Slow and dignified • John Lawrence Erb 



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Copyright, 1918, by j. L. Erb 
THE LINCOLN THEME 



Slow, with simplicity 



John Lawrence Erb 




&. &'' l ^°' :l|' J. l i 



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Copyright, 1918, by J . L. Erb 



THE MASQUE OF THE 
TITANS OF FREEDOM 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



The Masque begins with the Organ playing the openijig 
straiiis of the Washington theme, plamly stated, and of the 
Lincoln theme, in equally simple form. All is dark, save for a 
faint glow of daivn in the sky seen betiveen two tall massive 
columns at the head of soyne steps. On either side, at the foot 
of the steps, are two stone benches. 

The music recurs to the Washingto7i theme, playing it 
more fully. The gloiv in the sky deepens arid rapidly becomes 
brighter until it is brilliant ivith red and golden light. From 
the east there come tall stately figures, who are joined by 
others like them from the west. As the light increases, it i& 
seen that they are in robes of dazzling brightness. They are 
the Majestic Ones of Life. Then similarly the music plays the 
Lincoln theme in full. Blue light rises up over the sky from 
the west, blending with the red into a gorgeous purple. At the 
same time there come in still other figures, sensitive and re- 
sponsive, joyous and sad interchangeably. They are the Hu- 
man Spirits of this Earth. They join with the Majestic Ones 
in the rhythmic motion, as the music interiv eaves the two 
themes. 

The music again passes into a clear statement of the Lin- 
coln theme. The red light in the sky gradually softens and the 
blue becomes stronger and richer, until it is all a deep blue 
glow like the night sky. The Majestic Ones recede to either 
side and kneel or recline. The Human Spirits also come for- 
ward and form a central reclining group, as Abraham Lincoln 



comes in. The music continuesjhe Lincoln theme in the minor. 
Lincoln is tired and depressed as at the eyid of a long hard day. 
He stands a solitary figure, lonely and hearing his burden, 
until as the music reaches a long soft chord he speaks. 

Lincoln : With malice toward none, with charity toward all ! 

Then he straightens up and throws off his melancholy as 
the music passes into the rnajor. Again he speaks. 

Lincoln: With firmness in the right as God gives us to see 
the right, — we must strive on. 

With a few quiet chords, alteimately minor a7id major, the 
music ceases. Lincoln brushes his hair back from his forehead 
with a sigh and resumes his meditations. 

Lincoln : But I must in all candor say I do not think myself 
fit for the Presidency. — Yes, even one of my old friends 
and neighbors said to me today, "Well, Mr. Lincoln, if 
anybody had told me that in a great crisis like this the 
people were going out to a little one-horse town and pick 
out a one-horse lawyer for President, I would not have be- 
lieved it." He did not mean to hurt my feelings of course, 
but there is truth in it. What could I say but "Neither 
would I," and laugh. — No, I was not the best man to pick 
for this place. Seward, or Chase, or — I can but do my 
best for these dear people. 

A woman appears in the shadoiv of the columns behind 
him. With her are five young men in uniform. Lincoln turns 
kiyidly to her. 

Lincoln: And you, my good woman, what is your name? 
Are you Mrs. Bixby? And these are your five sons? My 
dear Madam, I feel how weak and helpless must be any 
word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from 
the grief of a loss so overwhelming, but I cannot refrain 
from tendering to you the consolation that may be found 

[6] 



in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray 
our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your 
bereavement and leave only the cherished memory of the 
loved and lost, and the solemn pride which must be yours 
to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 
The ivonian and her sojis disappear, Lincoln stretching 

out his arm in sympathy toward her. A little farther away a 
group of politicians appear, standing together, talking about 
him and pointing at him in a hostile manner. Lincoln sees 
them but at first does not heed them until he wants informa- 
tion from them 07i the subject that is uppermost in his heart. 
Then he addresses them. 

Lincoln : Tell me, — you may attack me, but tell me, — do the 
people of your State hold me in any way responsible for 
the loss of their friends in the Army? 

The politicians do 7iot answer him, simply stand together 
looking at him,. Finally, half addressing them, half meditating, 
Lincoln continues. 

Lincoln : I know very well that others might, in this matter 
as in others, do better than I can ; but though I believe I 
have not so much of the confidence of the people as I had 
some time since, I do not know that, all things considered, 
any other person has more; and however this may be, 
there is no way in which I can have any other man put 
where I am. I am here ; I must do the best I can, and bear 
the responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought 
to take. 

Lincoln resolutely faces his opponents, ivho gradually fade 
aivay, disappear. 

Lincoln : I am as good as any of them, — These people, for- 
ever demanding surrender under the name of peace ! Re- 
versing the divine rule and calling, not sinners, but the 
righteous to repentance, with their invocations to Wash- 
ing, imploring me to unsay what Washington said, and 

[7] 



undo what Washington djd, when I never had a feeling 
politically that did not spring from the sentiments em- 
bodied in the Declaration of Independence! — I shall not 
last long after it is over. — Washington ! He had bitter un- 
fair opposition to endure as well as I ! Traitors even in 
his own household ! With what impeccable dignity and 
high supremacy of mind he met them, — in very truth the 
august Father of his Country ! 

The Washington theme is heard in the music, and then the 
Lincoln theme ansivering it, expressive of the very great and 
deep veneration that Lincoln had for the character of Wash- 
ington. The Washington theme recurs, louder than before and 
clarionlike. Rose lights begin to appear and flash through the 
blue night sky, increasing until the sky is biilliant ivith red 
and golden light flashing alternately through the blue. With 
the first rose lights the Majestic Ones raise themselves into 
attentive though still reclining positions. As the music de- 
velops the tivo themes together, the Lincoln theme rising in 
crescendo to meet the Washington theme and the Washington 
theme sounding louder and louder through it, the Majestic 
Ones rise and uplift their arms high in exaltation on either 
side. At the climax of the music Washington appears, in uni- 
form as a General of the Revolutionary War, standing by one 
of the columns ivith upraised hand in salutation to Lincoln. 
Lincoln bowing renders him most sincere greeting. They 
speak each other's names. 

Lincoln : Washington ! 

Washington : Abraham Lincoln ! 

The music continues softly in a long chord accompani- 
ment to the ivords spoken by Lincoln and Washington, the 
chords being the essential chords of the Washington theme. 

Lincoln : Your great example has always been the standard 
and the inspiration of my life, the solace and encourage- 
ment of my efforts in this place ! 

[8] 



Washington : You have saved the nation we created ! We 
are fellows, — two men who love their Country more than 
all things else on earth! 

Lincoln : The trials, the bitterness you endured ! 

Washington : Were like to yours ! 

Washington conies down to Luicoln and they grasp each 
other's hands. 

Washington : At last the people came to understand and to 
support the right! So with you! But now our Country 
passes through a third, a greater crisis than it ever has 
before. 

Lincoln: The people of America will rise, to rescue justice 
and to champion liberty! 

Washington : I trust so, but God grant they do not rise too 
late! 

The Washington theme rises holding into the major, for- 
tissimo, while the lights glow up into special hrilliancy, and the 
Majestic Ones and the Huma^i Spirits, standing in groups var- 
iously combined, exultantly with arms upraised signalize the 
moment. The music ceases. Washirigton and Lincoln sit down 
on the stone benches. The Majestic Ones and the Human 
Spirits resume their places i7i groups reclining on the ground 
in front. 

Washington : Those old experiences of bitter opposition, 
vituperation and personal recrimination still hang over 
me like a nightmare. I bore much for the sake of peace 
and the public good. Fifty thousand pounds would not 
induce me again to undergo what I did! 

Lincoln : If to be the head of Hell is as hard as what I have 
to undergo here, I could find it in my heart to pity Satan 

[9] 



himself! General Washington, — I understand you like 
best to be called General Washington ? 

Washington : Yes, I do. 

Lincoln : I have heard there were times when even your im- 
perturbable serenity gave way before the attacks of your 
enemies. General Charles Scott has said that on finding 
Charles Lee retreating at Monmouth you swore like an 
angel from Heaven. 

Washington: The damned poltroon! It may not be a just 
but it is certainly a kind providence that we sometimes 
get reputations for virtues after death which we did not 
altogether deserve while living. I am not a competent 
judge of General Scott's comparison. 

Washmgton smiles and Lincoln laughs. 

Washington : It is the petty falsities and irritating innuen- 
does that try one's temper more than the serious troubles. 
There was a Master of Ceremonies, a major domo, a sort 
of stately dancing master, when I first became President 
who gave me much vexation. I dislike parade and cere- 
mony as much as my Democratic neighbor, Mr. Jefferson, 
but things should be done with a sense of fitness when one 
is the occupant of this position. In my clothes I wanted 
neither lace nor embroidery — plain clothes, with a gold 
or silver button (if worn in genteel dress) is all I desired. 
But this Master of Ceremonies used so much unnecessary 
form at Mrs. Washington's and my first levee as to make 
us ridiculous, and I confess I broke out at him, "Well, you 
have taken me in once, but, by God, you shall never take 
me in a second time." Nor did he. (Laughter). Edmund 
Randolph with his false and ungrateful hostility in my 
later years tried me sore. Of him, when he brought out 
one of his scurrilous pamphlets, forgetting myself, I ex- 
claimed, "By the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on 
the face of the earth !" — which was true. — Mr. Lincoln, 
it is very easy to confess one's sins to you. 

[10] 



Lincoln : A man has not time to spend half his life in quar- 
rels. If any man ceases to attack me, I never remember 
the past against him. 

Washington: That is right. I am not sure that I was as 
forgiving as you, but as I went gliding down the stream 
of life, I wished that my remaining days should be undis- 
turbed and tranquil; and conscious of my integrity I 
never undertook the painful task of recrimination, nor did 
I ever even enter upon my justification. It was peculiarly 
my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissensions with 
those who were embarked in the same great national in- 
terest with myself; as every difference of this kind must 
in consequence be very injurious. I ignored hostility. 

Lincoln: What? Even General Conway? 

Washington: He complained to the Continental Congress 
of my cool receptions. I did not receive him in the lan- 
guage of a warm and cordial friend. 

A group of Washington's enemies appear in the hack- 
ground, evidently by their manner intriguing against him. 
Among them are Conway and Gates. 

Conway : A great and good God decreed that America should 
be free, or Washington and weak counsels would have 
ruined her long ago. 

Lincoln: Horatio Gates? 

Washington : My bosom friend, General Gates ! 

Lincoln: Benedict Arnold? 

Washington : His treason to our friendship grieved me be- 
yond all anger. 

Lincoln : General Washington, you were indeed magnani- 
mous! 

[11] 



The group of Washington's enemies fade away and dis- 
appear'. 

Washington: My whole life long I yearned to escape from 
it all, from the army with its endless hardships and even 
more from public life, and at length, dressed in the gray 
coat of a Virginia farmer to become a private citizen on 
the banks of the Potomac; and under the shadow of my 
own vine and fig-tree, free from the bustle of a camp, and 
the busy scenes of public life, to solace myself with those 
tranquil enjoyments, of which the soldier, who is ever in 
pursuit of fame, and the statesman, whose watchful days 
and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to pro- 
mote the welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other 
countries, (as if this globe was insufficient for us all), 
can have very little conception. 

During this speech the tivo grandchildren, George Wash- 
ington Parke Custis and Nellie Custis come in. The hoy sits 
on the floor beside General Washington, while Nellie stands 
by him, his arm around her. 

Lincoln: I can sympathize with you about public life. I 
never had any military experience. 

Washington: The Black Hawk War? 

Lincoln : That amounted to nothing. I never really smelt 
powder. But you were in your element in battle. 

Washington : It never disturbed me. Indeed, I rather liked 
it, from the first fight I ever was in, at Fort Necessity. 
Then first I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, 
there was something charming in the sound. — It was 
always my prayer that the God of Armies would bestow 
sufficient abilities on me to bring the war to a speedy and 
happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet 
retirement and the full enjoyment of that peace and hap- 
piness which accompanies a domestic life. That was al- 
ways the first wish and most fervent prayer of my soul. 

[12] 



Nellie Custis : When he came back to Mount Vernon after 
the war, Grandpa was much pleased with being once more 
Farmer Washington. Weren't you, Grandpa? 

Lincoln : This your little girl ? 

Washington: This is my little granddaughter, or Mrs. 
Washington's; and grandson. Go over and speak to 
President Lincoln, my dear. 
The two children go over to Lincoln. 

Lincoln: You would not pass me without shaking hands, 
would you? I had no little girls. All my children were 
boys, four boys. I wonder where Tad is ! Tad ! Tad ! 

Tad comes in. He comes to his father and hangs over his 
shoulder as he sits on the bench. Tad is in a little Civil War 
Lieutenant's uniform. 

Lincoln: Tad, go over and pay your respects to General 
Washington, the Father of your Country. 

Tad very seriously comes to attention and salutes General 
Washington; he smilingly and graciously acknowledges the 
salute. Then Tad goes over and shakes hands with him. 

Lincoln : And these are his grandchildren. This is my clos- 
est friend, Tad. 

Tad shakes hands with the two Custis children and then 
they all return to their parents and listen to them. Soon Tad 
slips down to the floor and goes to sleep. 

Lincoln : I was never much of a farmer. I reckon I was too 
lazy. I used to chop wood a little out in the shed at Spring- 
field, and I split rails when I was young too. 

Washington: We both began as surveyors, I remember. I 
knew that region you came from, Illinois. I had a keen 

[13] 



eye for bottom lands. I took a trip through there once, 
that is, down the Ohio Rivfer, maybe not as far north aa 
where your town, Springfield, is. The Indians were all 
through there in my day; the Illini, "the real men", they 
called themselves. — Agriculture has always been the 
most favorite amusement of my life. The more I am ac- 
quainted with agricultural affairs the better I am pleased 
with them. To see plants rise from the earth and flourish 
by the superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills the 
contemplative mind with ideas which are more easy to be 
conceived than expressed. How much the rotation of 
crops has accomplished! It was almost unknown in my 
day; but I practised it a little! It was my greatest pride 
to be thought the first farmer of America ! 

As Washington sits genially musing on his home life at 
Mount Vernon, the music again plays his theme, this time ivith 
a fresh springlike pastoral quality introduced by the flutes. 
The lights become soft and pink as of early morning. Pastoral 
Elves, in light greens and grain colors, smaller than the other 
spirits and quicker in motion, run out and dance back and 
forth betiveen the other groups. As the music and the dancing 
come to a close, Lincoln quietly rises. 

Lincoln : I must be taking this soldier upstairs and put him 
to bed pretty soon or he will have me court-martialed in 
the morning for neglect of duty ! Tad sees that everything 
goes all right in the White House. Even Stanton does 
whatever he tells him to. That is more than he will do for 
me! (With a quizzical laugh.) One day someone came to 
me to ask for a pass through the lines over Stanton's re- 
fusal. I told him, "I can do nothing; you must know I 
have very little influence in this administration." 

In the music the Lincoln theme ripples out in accelerated 
tempo and with very humorous droll effect. Little Sprites of 
Humor, funny lovable little tots, run out on either side and 
romp about for a few moments as Lincoln smiling watches 
them. 

[14] 



Lincoln: That man I told I had but little influence in my 
administration makes me think, General Washington, you 
and I did the best thing, but not the easiest thing, when 
we appointed our Cabinets and gathered into them pretty 
much all the leaders of every party or faction in the whole 
country. Why, I even offered a place to the South, besides 
making Bates of Missouri, Attorney General ; and at that 
time we did not know for sure whether Missouri was 
North or South. Our example did not seem to prove very 
attractive to other Presidents! 

WASHINGTON: Coalition ministries do not make quiet fam- 
ilies! Jefferson and Hamilton and Randolph! 

Lincoln: Seward and Stanton and Chase! — When I went 
down the Mississippi on a flatboat, I knew a man, a flat- 
boatman on the Sangamon River in Illinois who to please 
his children once brought one of them a parrot and the 
other a monkey all the way up from New Orleans, and 
steered the flatboat too at the same time. 

Washington : Were you that man ? 

Lincoln : I was not. I could not do that. 

Washington : If he accomplished his purpose, he should 
have been made President of the United States. He 
showed qualifications. 

Lincoln : I even had to read the riot act to my Cabinet once. 
Influence? I had to tell them plainly, "I must myself be 
the judge how long to retain in and when to remove any 
one of you from his position. It would greatly pain me 
to discover any of you endeavoring to procure another's 
removal, or in any way to prejudice him before the pub- 
lic. Such endeavor would be a wrong to me, and much 
worse, a wrong to the country." And, I added, "My wish 
is that on this subject no remark be made nor question 
asked by any of you, here or elsewhere, now or hereafter." 

[ 15 ] 



Washington : Yet it was common report that you were only 
a figure head in the administration. 

Both Washington and Lincoln laugh heartily. 

Lincoln : But they made a glorious Cabinet, men every one 
of them of great power, of surpassing ability. Stanton! 
— the winning of the war was the only passion of his loyal 
soul! He regarded nothing else; and no one. I gave a 
man a card to him once with a request he wanted. Soon 
he came back and told me that Stanton in a rage tore my 
card up and threw it in the waste-basket. Now that was 
just like Stanton! (Lincoln laughs; and Washington 
smiles, appreciating both sides of the anecdote.) One 
time a Congressman who had had an altercation with 
Stanton thought he was playing the ace of trumps and 
taking high, low, jack and the game, by coming to me and 
telling me that Stanton had said I was a fool. I shall never 
forget the expression on that man's face when I leaned 
over to him and said confidentially, "If Stanton said I was 
a fool, I must be a fool, for Stanton is nearly alw 'ys right 
and generally says what he means." (Laughs). No, in 
Stanton I had the right Secretary of War! It t" ' a long 
time to find a General to match. 

Washington: We both of us were most fortunate in our 
Secretaries of War. Henry Knox, — with respect to Gen- 
eral Knox I can say with truth there was no man in the 
United States with whom I was in habits of greater in- 
timacy, no one whom I loved more sincerely. Alexander 
Hamilton, — I called him my boy. For a while he felt 
estranged from me, but that had all been forgotten when 
he became my Secretary of the Treasury. There was no 
one upon whom I relied more implicitly. In ability, I think 
it a fair question which was the greater financier, he or 
Robert Morris. 

Lincoln : All money matters I left entirely to Chase. I knew 
nothing about money. Of all the great men I have known. 
Chase was equal to about one and a half of the best of 
them. He did not think much of me. He was not of an 

[16] 



impetuous generous nature, like Stanton. When I was 
considering the nomination for Chief Justice, I received 
piles of telegrams and letters protesting against my nom- 
inating him, most of them on petty and personal grounds. 
Now I knew meaner things about Governor Chase than 
any of those men could tell me. But what had my quali- 
ties, my likes or dislikes, or his dislike for me to do with 
the matter? Of course I nominated him, and he made a 
fine Chief Justice. — But speaking of profanity and the 
strain on the temper. General Washington, you should 
have had Seward for your Secretary of State! Seward 
was a statesman of preeminent ability; with it he had a 
classic dignity of manner. One time we were going to the 
telegraph office together, but were interrupted and de- 
tained until I thought we should never get there. As we 
went into the room, I remarked offhand, "By jings, Gov- 
ernor, we are here at last!" Seward turned to me with a 
reproving manner and said, "Mr. President, where did 
you learn that inelegant expression?" I did not answer 
him directly, but turned to the young telegraph operators 
and said, "Young gentlemen, excuse me for swearing be- 
fore you. 'By jings' is swearing, for my good old mother 
taught me that any thing that had a 'by' before it was 
swearing." Seward was puzzled. (Laughter). But I am 
tiring you with my stories. 

Washington: No, indeed, Mr. Lincoln; I enjoy them most 
heartily. I wish that I had had such a sure relief from 
strain and worry as you had in your sense of humor! 
I had no escape except to seek refuge within the dignity 
of my position and retire behind a reserved manner. And 
that gave me no refuge from my own thoughts and dis- 
couragement. 

Lincoln: When I was President, if I could not have told 
those stories, I should have died. Those pestiferous office- 
seekers! Hardly even a personal friend came to see me 
but he had at least a postmaster in his pocket that wanted 
to get something out of me! — And the court-martials 
with their death penalties ! Every week I really had to 

[17] 



go through those papers and see if I could not find an ex- 
cuse to let those poor fellows off! General Washington, 
maybe you can tell me, — if God Almighty gives a man a 
cowardly pair of legs, how can he help their running away 
with him? I remember one young girl who came to me 
to plead for her brother's life. She had no friend to in- 
troduce her, no influence to bring to bear in his behalf. 
Simply she loved her brother. I could not help saying to 
her, "My poor girl, you have come here with no Governor, 
or Senator, or Member of Congress to speak in your 
cause ; you seem honest, and truthful, and you don't wear 
hoop-skirts, and I'll be whipped if I don't pardon him." 
Then I felt better! — Now I must take this little fellow 
up to his bed. Please excuse me a few minutes. Come on, 
Tad! 

Lincoln carefully picks up Tad, who is sound asleep, puts 
him over his shoulder^ 2uithout ivaking him, and carries him 
off. Washington and the Spirits all ivatch him silently. Then 
as he goes, the music pours forth the Lincoln theme in swift 
crescendo and glorious harmonies. The lights in the sky 
brighten to a supernal hrilliayice. Washington rises and stands 
ivith boived head, his hat in his hand, ajid all the Spirits rise 
and raise their arms in heart-felt tribute to Lincoln. 

At the end of the Lincoln music a drum is heard beating 
the long roll, far atvay, then gradually a little nearer. Two 
groups of soldiers come out on either side and take their places 
as night pickets. One group, on the east, on Washington's side, 
are Revolutionary soldiers. The other group, on the west, on 
Lincoln's side, are Civil War soldiers. There are about five in 
each group. They take their places like two proscenium groups 
of statuary, not motionless, but quietly keeping guard through 
the night. Washington ivraps his military cloak about him and 
goes down to the Revolutionary group. Silently they rise and 
stand at attention ivhile Washington speaks to them. Lincoln 
returns and, ivith Washington goes dotvn to the group of Civil 
War soldiers, ivho likeivise rise and stand at attention ivhile 
Lincoln talks ivith them. The long roll on the drum comes to 
an end. Washington and Lincoln return to their places. 

[18 1 



Washington: Ever their guard they keep over the nation 
they died to create! 

Lincoln : The nation they died to save ! 

The long roll 07i the drum begins again. 

Washington : The preservation of the sacred fire of Liberty 
and the destiny of the republican model of government 
are justly considered as deeply, as finally intrusted to the 
hands of the American people. 

Lincoln : The nations of the earth are all in arms to fight 
for mutual Independence and united Liberty! 

Washington : To be prepared for war is one of the most 
effectual means of preserving peace. A free people ought 
not only to be armed, but disciplined. Oh may our st)ns 
and grandsons quickly come with victory to the rescue of 
the world ! 

Lincoln: This is Memorial Day. Not only they, but all the 
hosts that fought with you and Green; that sailed with 
John Paul Jones and Perry; followed Jackson, Scott and 
Taylor; Grant and Farragut and Lee, together rise and 
march to reenforce their sons and grandsons over there 
in France! 

Washington : Again the Men of '76 advance to meet . the 
Hessians ! 

Lincoln : The Grave and Death cannot restrain them ! 

Softly the drum resolves its beat into a march and softly 
with it are heard, as if only in imaginatioyi, the fifes playirig 
first Yankee Doodle and then The Girl I Left Behind Me. The 
measured tramp of marching feet is heard to the sound of fifes 
and drum. 

Washington : The skies are full of marching troops ! From 
north and south, from east and west they throng the 

[19] 



clouds with cheer and courage for their sons who fight, 
with welcome for the wounded and the dead! 

Lincoln: The last time I sailed up the Potomac, just after 
the close of the Civil War, as the steamer passed your 
place there at Mount Vernon, I thought of you, and think- 
ing of you quoted those surpassing lines of Shakespeare's 
in Macbeth, — 

Duncan is in his grave; 

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. 

Treason has done its worst ; nor steel, nor poison, 

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing 

Can touch him further, 
and thought that soon I too should follow you to rest for- 
ever. 

Washington : There is no rest for us when all to which we 
gave our souls each moment stands in jeopardy. No rest 
but vigilance and prayer ! 

Lincoln : I have been driven to my knees many times by the 
overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. 
Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever 
attended you we cannot succeed. But with that assistance 
we cannot fail. 

Washington : With that assistance we cannot fail. 

Lincoln : I am not deeply concerned to know if the Lord is 
on my side, but whether I am on the Lord's side. 

Washington : The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be 
expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of 
order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. 

Lincoln : This is God's fight and He will win it in His own 
good time. 

Washington : Our service, yours and mine, was to bring to 
the people of our day the vision of America that glorified 
the purpose of our lives ! So still we lead our generations, 

[20] 



and the generations that have followed, on to perfect ser- 
vice. No work is done, no life is given, no suffering en- 
dured, no prayer is prayed for Liberty but lasts forever, 
piling up its strength and buttressing its might through 
all the centuries and ages yet to come ! America ! Amer- 
ica! For thee we lived and died; for thee we ever live! 
And now the might of all thy generations do we call to 
back thy soldiers fighting with thine Allies now in France ! 

The music pours forth fortissimo the tivo themes, the 
Washington and the Lincoln, iyi strong clear statement. Then 
ivith them is heard the theme of America, like clarion peals 
interrupting. Marching from the ivest toivard the east the 
figure of America appears, luith drawn sivord in hand, carry- 
ing the American Flag and ivearing the Shield of the United 
States on her shoulder. Folloiving her are American soldiers 
of the Great War. As she goes up to the highest point of the 
stage there come in from the east, meeting her and ivelcoming 
her the figures of the Allies, — Belgium, France, Britain, and 
Italy. As the Revolutionary and the Civil War pickets and the 
Spirits belotv her surge forivard toivard her ivith upraised 
arms of acclamation and as the light pours in dazzling bril- 
liance upon her, America raises the Flag high above her and 
the Music pours out the full harmony of America. Washing- 
ton kneels ivith sword drawn and Lincoln stands ivith bowed 
head, and all join in singing the four stanzas of 

AMERICA 

With the last stanza, "Our fathers' God, to Thee", all 
kneel. Then the music playing the tivo themes, first the Lincoln 
and then the Washington, as at the beginning of the Masque, 
and the lights fading aivay into darkness, all the figures rise 
and receding disappear from vieiv. 



Note — The dialogue is almost all of it in the words of George 
Washington and Abraham Lincoln themselves. It has not been thought 
necessary to indicate where modifications have been made in the wording 
to adapt it to the present dramatic purpose. 

W. C. L. 

[21] 



FIRST PERFORMANCE 

THE MASQUE OF THE TITANS OF FREEDOM 

under the auspices of 

THE WAR COMMITTEE OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

in the University Auditorium 
MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 30, 1918 



George Washington . . 
Abraham Lincoln , . 
The Custis Children 

Tad 

Mrs. Bixby 

Continental Congressman 

Civil War Congressman 

Revolutionary Picket . 

Civil War Picket . . . 



Francis Keese Wynkoop Drury 
Rev. Stephen Elias Fisher 
Agnes Elford Johnston and 
John Benjamin Drury 
Richard Dunlap 
Mrs. Morgan Brooks 
Don Clausen, Richard Bell, 
T. F. Hay, E. G. Mason 
Al. Rapp, Louis P. McKay, 
R. Smykal, R. P. Wettstein 
David J. Kadyk, Orville Crews, 
Walter Barry, H. B. Carr, 
William E. Fulrath 
Palmer G. Craig, Morgan Fitch 
Fred W. Myers, I. M. Funk 
Harold R. Pinckard 



America 


Gertrude Sawyer 


American Soldiers of 




THE Great War . . 


Captain Gerald Darfield Stopp 




and Cadets of the United States 




School of Military Aeronautics 


The Allies: Belgium . 


Dorothy Doty 


France . 


Lois Marie Scott 


Britain . 


Ethel Hottinger 


Italy . . 


Mildred Winifred Wright 



[22] 



The Majestic Ones of Life: Dorothy Bahe, Lillian John- 
ston, Margaret Pahl, Northa Ann Price, Astrid Dodge, 
Goldia Butzer. 

The Human Spirits of Earth : Eunice Badger, Margaret 
Kutledge, Katherine Fay Miller, Beulah Prante, Flor- 
ence Bartow Johnston, Mary Jane Weir. 

The Pastoral Elves: Lucile Abraham, Ruble Turnquist, 
Mary Mumford, Christine Hyland, Marion Treat, Mar- 
garet Langdon. 

The Sprites of Humors Beatrice Sloan, Virginia Mumford, 
Betty Ballantine, Catharine Colvin. 

The Music of the Titans of Freedom composed for the Or- 
gan by John Lawrence Erb, F.A.G.O., and played by 
him at the first performance. Rehearsal Accompanists : 
Clara G. Armington and Laura A. Dole ; 

The Costumes designed by Mrs. William Chauncy Langdon ; 

The Dances led by Dorothy Bahe ; 

The University War Committee — David Kinley, Chairman; 
Eugene Davenport, Stephen Alfred Forbes, Frederick 
Haynes Newell, Stuart Pratt Sherman, Charles Alton 
Ellis, Charles Manfred Thompson; 

The Committee on Decoration Day Celebration — Daniel 
Kilham Dodge, Chairman ; Harry Franklin Harring- 
ton, William Chauncy Langdon, Rex R. Thompson. 



[23] 



[Twin Cmr Printing Company "I 
ChRmpaign, Illinois J 



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